Successful Airbnb Entrepreneur: How to run a successful Airbnb business

If you decided to start earning with Airbnb - a popular online short-term rental platform - there are still a lot of opportunities to start doing it despite the saturation of the market. Airbnb was launched in the previous decade, and currently, it is a prosperous marketplace gathering millions of properties in thousands of locations, lots of hosts and managers gaining profits and doing what they enjoy.

Types of Airbnb entrepreneurs

Welcome to the hospitality business. Let’s try to understand what kind of Airbnb entrepreneur you can become based on your plans, mindset, talents, and ideas: 

You can work with short-term rental business part-time, full-time, or become a professional property manager. Basically, there are 5 types of hosts on Airbnb platform: 

1. The Opportunist

You can become a host, who uses the chance to earn some money in high season when the number of tourists in the city reaches its maximum. These entrepreneurs are not considering this business their main occupation, but are searching for an additional way to make some cash. 

2. The Extravert 

To this group, we add people, who have their spare bedroom or a couch and are inspired by the idea of meeting budget-minded people. These hosts are eager to make new friends, be a city guide and entertainment manager, or just want to have some additional income hassle-free. 

3. The Traditional Host

Owning one property for rent and driven by the idea to make it as risk-free as possible, a traditional host is ready to carry out a thorough screening of travelers and prefers longer-term deals because of safety considerations.  

4. The Full-time Airbnb host

This type of host owns several properties and makes them available year-round, turning their activity into a full-fledged business. They need to control the whole workflow: from home maintenance to cleaning, professional work with listing optimization, and more.

5. Professional Airbnb short-term property manager

Renting or owning 3-5-15 properties and managing them full-time or even establishing an agency for such business is another opportunity to ensure a stable income and grow. 

How to start an Airbnb business and develop it?

According to Robert Kiyosaki, a famous author of bestseller books about getting rich, there are excellent growth opportunities on Airbnb. Therefore, there are several types of hosts and managers. But first, let’s try to figure out the nitty-gritty.

1. To start Airbnb business you can use your marketing skills 

Airbnb vacation rental business is a chance to apply your skills as a marketer: positioning, advertising, listing optimization, promotions, and approach to customers - there are so many ways to stand out. 

You need to have sufficient expertise in the following areas: 

    2) Hosts are not just the landlords

Usually, real estate investors are referred to as landlords. In Airbnb business property owners, who are dealing with vacation rental business, are called hosts. It means that your task is not just offering a place to stay, you can create an outstanding hospitality experience. The opportunities for additional services and add-ons for your primary tasks are almost unlimited. So, your chance to stand out from the crowd is great. Make sure you use it smartly. 

    3) Successful dynamic pricing

When you are a real estate owner and deal with a long-term rental, your success is built on the initially set price for upcoming months and years. On Airbnb, the key for your success is price optimization and the right approach to the balance between the booked out the calendar and missed profit opportunities. Your goal is renting out nights or weeks, not years or even months, so being flexible and strategic at your maximum potential is the primary goal.

   4) Airbnb hosts should be ready for higher liability 

In the real estate business, there are multiple liabilities, but most of them revolve around physical property amortization and tenants. Being an Airbnb host means that your level of financial liability is higher along with the risk of damages, stolen property, like furnished units, danger due to specific clients, squatters, and a lot more. 

Risk mitigation and benefits come with the proper analysis of the pricing approach and being aware of such risks. 

The Bottom Line

Airbnb business is full of opportunities to be discovered: you can invest in properties or improve existing services. Like in any other business, it is important to be bold, creative, and forward-thinking.